Al and Me
by Lightning802
Summary: Zosia's life has just reached it's peak when her brother, Al, calls up from France needing a place to stay. Her boyfriend and Al do not get on well. Last time they met involved Al punching her boyfriend in the nose. How will Zosia juggle the family she was born with and the family she's in love with... Review!
1. Chapter 1

Al and Me

Zosia gazed up at her new house. The brickwork needed to be repainted, the deck could be renovated, but it was a start. A start to her new life with her new partner. Rico De La Rosa. Her boyfriend. Zosia Ferrel's boyfriend. Everytime she thought about moving in with him, she felt like some one was pumping her heart up with a helium pump. A smile stretched over her face. She remembered when she first met him, in Apaloosa Plains hospital. She was a nurse and he was one of her many patients. As soon as they set eyes on one another, fireworks whizzed and banged and they fell in love. The went on their first date a week after meeting each other, but because of their jobs, they found it hard to continue setting dates to have some time together. Rico was an athlete and had late work hours, but Zosia had an early start as a nurse. On the days that Rico was working Zosia had days off and vice versa. The only way they could meet up with one another, was if they met at two in the morning, or eleven at night.

After five months of early mornings and late nights, Zosia and Rico decided to move in together. In the same week, Zosia was offered a new job in Sacred Spleen Memorial Hospital in Pleasant View. Zosia decided to except it after Rico had ensured that he had a new job in Pleasant View aswell. It meant that his whole career would be brought back by a couple of years, but he knew that Zosia was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with and he didn't want to lose her. They eventually decided on a new house that suited their needs. It was a one bedroom house with two empty floors. They decided that when the time was right, they would reenovate the two floors into more rooms. Nothing was said about children, but they both knew that that was what the two floors were going to be for.

Zosia walked up to the house and pulled the keys out of her pocket. She slid them into the keyhole and twisted. The lock clicked open and Zosia stepped inside. She remembered a month ago when her and Rico were looking at this house. Rico looked at the fading paintwork and immediately said no. But Zosia didnt think that he was making the right decision. She forced him to look through the whole house and they both agreed that it was nicer than they had first thought. Now with their furniture inside it looked even more homely. The furniture was already arranged and Zosia realised that Rico must have already arrived. "Rico?" She called out. She then heard footsteps coming down the stairs and eventually Rico was visible. "Rico!" Zosia squealed. It had seemed like months since she had last seen him although it was only last week. She ran up to him and leaped into his arms. He hugged her tightly to his chest and kissed her on top of her long, wavy blond hair.

After he put her down, Rico lead Zosia around their new house showing her how he had laid out the furniture with the help of the builders. After having seen the kitchen, the bathroom and the lounge, Zosia realised that their beds and the dining table were no where to be seen. "Where are we going to eat and sleep?" She asked curiously. Rico grinned at her and grabbed her hand. "Let me show you something." He led her into the room with the steps. It was a reasonably big room, but Zosia hadn't thought about putting any furniture in there. Rico had arranged the dining table and chairs and had hung up some scenic pictures. Zosia gasped surveying the room. It was amazing! But then a frown returned to her face. "Where are we going to sleep?" Once again an even bigger smile returned to Rico's face as he led her by the hand up the stairs. He opened the first door and revealed a study! Only a week ago the room was dirty and wrecked. Now it was clean and fixed with brand new laptops in. But Rico didn't stop to let Zosia gaze at her surroundings. He continued through the study into the room behind. A week ago this room had also been filthy and in need of attention. Now it was spotlessly clean with new curtains, a new rug, their bed and some other new furniture.

After Zosia had admired both the bedroom and the study and Rico explained how he took the last week off at his old job to get the house ready, her and Rico began down the stairs. But then Zosia stopped. "What's in the other room?" She remembered there being a second door on the landing. "It's a guest bedroom, in case either of us wanted to invite a friend over." Rico beamed. Zosia forced a smile onto her face but couldn't help feeling disappointed. She had always assumed that her and Rico wanted the same things, and she had really hoped that he had furnished the other room as a nursery. Not as a way of daunting them but to help them look forward to the future when they thought they were ready. Zosia clung on to the last piece of hope that Rico would burst out laughing to tell her he was joking, and that he knew that they both wanted children therefore he furnished the last room as a nursery. But he had already turned around and was at the bottom of the steps. Zosia sighed and followed after him.

Two hours later, Zosia and Rico were cuddled up on the sofa watching a horror movie when Zosia's phone rang. She stood up to answer it as Rico paused the movie, and signalled that he would order the pizza now. She pressed the answer button and held the phone up to her ear, "Hello?" she asked. "Hi, it's Al." her brothers voice sounded tired and hurt. At the sound of Al's name, Rico scowled and continued to search for the pizza delivery number. Rico and Al were completely different and the last time that their paths had crossed, Al had 'accidently' punched Rico in the face. "Al are you ok?" Zosia asked as a frown crept onto her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. Hows your new house? And Rico, what's up with him?" Al said trying to put a bounce in his voice. "It's good, he's good, everythings good." Zosia rushed, trying to turn the conversation back onto Al. "Is France good? Food living up to your standards?" She joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Listen Zosia," Al suddenly butted in. "I need a place to stay. The muggers that I told you about, I reported them to the police but there seem to be so many more that constantly target me. Please let me stay. Just for a bit. I have decided to move back to Pleasant View, that way I'm nearer to you and away from the muggers. Two birds with one stone. Please." Al said down the phone. Zosia couldn't say no, he was her brother and they had always been close. "Go on then." She said smiling to herself. As soon as she hung up, Zosia realised the two mistakes that she had just made. One- She didn't know when Al was coming. For all she knew he could arrive tonight and she had nothing ready for his arrival. And two- She loved Al and loved being with him, but she didn't want him to come.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Zosia sucked her stomach in and turned to face the mirror at another angle. She let her breath out and frowned at the mirror. She was gaining weight. 'Scales don't lie and neither do mirrors' She thought to herself. Rico was out booking a membership at the gym and since she didn't start work for another two days, she was alone. It wasn't that she minded that Rico was always out. She knew it wasn't her but it was the fact that he didn't want to be here when Al arrived. After the phone call yesterday, Rico stormed back into the room asking what she had done. Zosia eventually told him that Al was coming to stay and Rico was furious. He ignored her for two hours, before saying that he was really sorry and that he loved Zosia and that he shouldn't get angry with her. Zosia loved the fact that he was all over her, but was nervous for the arrival of Al. Who knew what would happen between him and Rico.

Zosia gazed back at her reflection in the mirror not noticing the good points in herself but only the bad. Her slightly swollen tummy, her stick thin arms, her tree trunk thighs and her chubby cheeks. However, Zosia overlooked the fact that all together it looked lovely and with her pixie shaped face, curtained with wavy blond hair and her trendy fashion sense, she looked almost like a model. Zosia reached over to the chest of drawers to grab some makeup but then the door rang. She looked back at the mirror and gasped at her pale face. She always thought it made her look like a ghost and she didn't want to look like that in front of anyone. She brushed some blusher on before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and dashing downstairs. Through the glazed glass in the window, Zosia could see a rounded person who looked overly large. She had no idea who it could be but she flattened her hair into shape and took a deep breath before opening the door. Her jaw dropped as she looked at the blond man with similar facial features to her. "Al?!" The last time she had saw Al, he was chubby, he had always been, but now he was just obese. He wore elasticated trousers over his huge belly and his shirt was tight against his chest. "My little sister!" Al beamed and scooped Zosia into a bear hug. Zosia was shocked for a minute before hugging Al back.

As Zosia showed Al into the house, she thought about what to say. She had never seen anyone so obese! "Umm, Al, it's great to see you and everything, but... what's your plan?" Zosia asked genuinely interested. "Trying to get rid of me already sis?" Al joked. Zosia was about to ask him to answer the question seriously but Al walked right past her into the living room to admire their TV. "Woah! These are expensive sis! How did you afford it?! I mean look at the hard drive and the storage space for recordings on this thing! And look at the pixels! They're all so high definition!" Zosia shook her head and answered back, "I got a job and didn't sit around the house all day like a slob!" Zosia's voice crescendo'd and then she suddenly burst into tears. Al dashed over to her and put his arm over her shoulder. "What's wrong Zoshy? Is it Rico, is he hurting you? He is, isn't he! I'm going to beat him-" Zosia interrupted him "It's not Rico, he's lovely, everyone here is so lovely but I don't enjoy being here. I feel sick all the time and it's getting me down and I'm gaining weight and NOTHING is going the way it was meant to!" She blubbed before bursting into tears again. Al looked sadly at the ground and said under his breath, "I guess me turning out of the blue didn't help either." Zosia stopped crying and looked at Al. "That's not true." She whispered "I love having you here it's just... I feel so sick!" Zosia said before vomiting all down Al's front.

After giving Zosia a bowl and showering himself, Al called a taxi. When Zosia asked him why he told her that she needed to go to the hospital. Zosia looked at her hands and then at the sick bowl. "I guess you're right." She replied. The taxi drew up outside and honked it's horn. Al walked over to Zosia and helped her walk to the taxi. As they climbed in, Zosia mouthed a thankyou to Al. The journey was silent. Apart from the taxi driver asking them where they wanted to go at the beginning, the price of the journey at the end and Al's short response to the driver, they sat in silence. When they pulled up at the hospital, Zosia decided that Al should know that this was where she worked. "Al, I work here." She said looking at the tall building. Al shot a curious glance at her before responding, "I didn't know you were a doctor." Zosia smiled to herself and replied "I'm not a doctor, I'm a nurse." Al smiled back at her and helped her into the hospital. As they neared the entrance, Zosia suddenly fell limp in Al's arms. Al struggled with her weight and called out. "HELP! I need a doctor! She's collapsed!" A young male doctor ran over with a wheel chair and helped Al lower her into it before dashing into the hospital pushing Zosia along. Al tried to keep up with the young doctor but soon fell behind.

Soon, Al caught up with the young doctor who had laid Zosia on a bed and was now conversing with an older looking doctor. Suddenly the older doctor caught sight of Al and cornered him. "Who are you?" He asked. Al was coughing and wheezing after the long run but managed to point at Zosia and say, "Her brother." The doctor nodded understandingly and held his hand out to shake. "I'm Doctor Sharo. I'll be looking after your sister while we try to figure out whats wrong." Al shook his hand and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "Her names Zosia, and I'm Al." Al said gasping for breath. "Okay," Doctor Sharo began, "If Doctor Knight is correct, you brought Zosia into hospital." He said signalling to the young doctor next to him. "Yeah." Al replied. Doctor Sharo nodded before asking, "Why did you bring her in?" Al thought for a moment before answering. "I arrived this morning at her house and she seemed really off. After a while she started crying and told me that she felt sick all the time. She seemed really hormonal and then she threw up on me so I brought her hear and then she passed out." Doctor Sharo studyed Al for a moment with his beady eyes before nodding at Doctor Knight. Doctor Knight left the cubicle whilst Doctor Sharo looked between Al and Zosia. "We're going to have to take some tests."


End file.
